Railway cattle-guard



No. 770,361. PATENTBD SEPT. 20, 1904.

' H. W. FREEMAN.

RAILWAY CATTLE GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16 1904.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented September 20, 1904.

PATENT EETEE.

RAILWAY CATTLE-GUARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 770,361, dated September 20, 1904.

Application filed March 16, 1904.

To all whorrt it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY W. FREEMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Laurel, in the county of Jones and State of Mississippi, have invented a new and useful Railway Cattle-Guard, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to stock-guards for railway-lines for preventing the passage of cattle to the right of way of the same, and has for its object to provide a simply-constructed and easily-applied device of this character which will be automatically operated by the animal in attempting to pass the gap protected by the device and which will not interfere with adjustment of the rails when required.

With these and other objects in view, which will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in certain novel features of construction, as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which corresponding parts are denoted by like designating characters, is illustrated the preferred form of the embodiment of the invention, it being understood that the invention is not necessarily limited thereto, as various changes in the shape, proportions, and general assemblage of the parts may be resorted to without departing from the principle of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages, and the right is therefore reserved of making all the changes and modifications which fairly fall within the scope of the invention and the claims made therefor.

In the drawings thus employed, Figure 1 is a plan view, and Fig. 2 is a side elevation, of the improved device applied. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail illustrating the construction and manner of operation of the returning-spring.

The improved device consists of a gate formed of a head portion 10, extending beneath the rails 11 12 and adjacent to the crosstie 13 nearest to the gap in the fence or other inclosure which it is designed to protect and hinged by the inner edge to the ends of the tie, as by clips 14 15. The gate-head is provided with spaced pickets 16, which lie upon the cross-ties when the gate is depressed and Serial No. 198,455. (No model.)

are therefore entirely out of the path of passing trains when not in use. The pickets are thus disposed both outside of and between the rails and will be extended laterally to any required extent to completely fill the gap to be protected and may be of any required length.

Extending from the free edges of the gatehead 10 at each end are crank-pins 17 18, the crank-pins being preferably adjustable transversely of the head member to vary the stroke when required. Each of these crank-pins is carried by a bracket 25, secured in any suitable manner to the adjacent end of the cross bar or head 10 of the gate and provided near one end with an outwardly-directed pintle 26, rotatably received within an opening or socket in the adjacent clip 14 or 15. This bracket 25 is provided with a series of screw-threaded openings or seats 27 for the individual reception of the screw-threaded inner terminal of the crank-pin, whereby the latter may be adjustedupon the bracket to vary its distance from the pintle 26.

Pivoted at their ends 19 20 to one of the ties 13 are lever-arms 21 22, resting by their free ends upon the crank-pins and connected by a trip-platform 23, extending beneath the rails 11 12 and between two of the ties 13.

By this simple arrangement it will be obvious that pressure applied to the platform will depress the lever-arms and elevate the gate-pickets into a vertical position, and thus cause an animal which attempts to pass the gap protected by the device to automatically close the gap and prevent its own passage therethrough, and then when the animal retreats and its Weight is removed from the platform the gate will fall into its former position by its own gravity. By having the crank-pins 17 and 18 adjustable with respect to the pintles 26 the throw of the gate may be regulated according to the required conditions.

When a comparatively small animal attempts to pass, the' gate may be only partially raised, but sufiiciently to exclude it. When, however, the larger animals, such as horses or cattle, attempt to pass, their heavier weight upon the platform will suddenly throw the gate into a substantially vertical position, and likewise effectually exclude them.

The crank-pins 17 18 are preferably provided with antifriction-rollers 24: to reduce the friction. A link 28 depends from each of the terminal pickets 16, to which it is loosely connected, as at 29, the lower end of the link being provided with a head 30, preferably a nut, and a helical spring 31 loosely embraces the lower portion of the link and is held upon said link by the head or nut 30. This link works loosely through an opening in a guide member or bracket 32, carried by one of the adjacent cross-ties, with the spring 31 located below the bracket. When the gate is drawn into a vertical position, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings, the spring 81 will be brought into contact with the guide member 32, and thereby placed under tension suflicient to insure a rearward tilting of the gate when weight is removed from either of the platforms 23 in order that a quick and positive return of the gate to its normal horizontal position may be had when the animals leave the platform.

If required, two of the platforms 23 may be employed, together with two sets of the opcrating-levers 21 22, disposed at opposite sides of the gate, so that animals will be excluded when approaching from either side.

When duplicate trip-platforms are thus employed, the lever-arms will all operate upon the same set of crank-pins; but each set of lever-arms will be provided with its own set of antifriction-rollers for obvious reasons.

The parts will preferably be entirely of metal, but may be partially of wood or other suitable material.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is- 1. A stock guard comprising a vertical swinging gate, opposite hinges for the gate, each hinge including a stationary member for application to a support and provided with a pintle-seat and a movable member for connection with the gate having a pintle for engagement with the seat of the stationary member and also provided with a crank-pin, and a tiltable platform having arms provided at their outer ends with fulcrumed supports and having their inner ends formed to bear upon the respective crank-pins.

2. In a stock-guard, the combination with a vertical swinging gate, of hinges therefor, each hinge comprising a stationary member for application to a support and provided with a pintle-seat, and a movable member for applieation to the gate and provided with a pintle to engage the pintle-seat and also having a series of screw threaded sockets, crankpins having screw-threaded portions for interchangeable engagement with the screwthreaded sockets of the movable members of the hinges,and a tiltable platform having arms provided at their outer ends with fulcrumed supports and having their inner ends formed to bear upon the respective crank-pins.

3. In a stock-guard, the combination with a vertical swinging gate and a controllingplatform therefor, a link depending from the gate, a guide independent of the gate and loosely receiving the link, and a spring carried by the link and normally located below the guide and relaxed, the guide being disposed in the path of the spring during the upward movement of the gate to compress the spring and place a tension upon the gate to automatically return the same to its normal position when weight is removed from the platform.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own 1 have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of witnesses.

HENRY W. FREEMAN. .Witnesses:

E. N. PATTON, C. M. MCDONALD, F. G. EVANS. 

